In a traditional electronic payment transaction, a consumer's primary account number is exposed to various entities involved during a transaction lifecycle. The account number is passed from a merchant terminal, to an acquirer system, a payment processing network, payment gateways, etc. Because the actual account number can be exposed at various points in the transaction lifecycle, payment “tokens” have been developed to conduct payment transactions. A payment token serves as an additional security layer to the account number and in effect becomes a proxy/surrogate to the actual account number. Thus, the payment token may be used in place of account number while submitting transactions. The use of payment tokens instead of account numbers can reduce the risk of fraudulent activity since the real account number is not exposed.
In conventional systems, a token service provider generates and manages the tokens. The token service provider may be the same entity as a transaction processing network. The token service provider may generate tokens for the account numbers issued by different issuers (e.g. banks) and store the tokens along with corresponding account numbers at a token vault. However, the conventional systems do not allow the issuers or other token requesting parties (e.g. token requestors) to customize or control the token generation process based on the requirements or preferences of the token requestors. Currently, only the token service provider may control the token generation process. Accordingly, token requestors are discouraged from participating in the token service because they cannot adequately oversee the token generation process.
Embodiments of the present invention solve these problems and other problems, individually and collectively.